My Family
by Starling Strider
Summary: One month ago Gypsy was saved from Loki by her wonderful superhero family. The memories of her capture though are torturing her and all her family wants to do is help her forget. To get past the one month mark without pain. So they come up with an idea to distract her, to get her mind off the events that happened just a month ago. Oneshot based off of my Daughter of Tony Stark fic.


In exactly two hours at three forty-five it would be exactly a month. A whole month since Gypsy was rescued, saved from the madman's hands. So much had happened and so much had changed. Gypsy's heart hammered against her chest as she sat on her bed, hugging her knees to her chest as she stared at her door. Someone was going to come get her soon. She knew they were. They all knew what today was and they didn't want to leave her alone when the one month mark came around. How they all knew was beyond Gypsy though she imagined it was probably one of the assassins' fault. They seemed to have built in calendars and clocks in their heads.

Gypsy bit down on her lip, hard. The closer it got to three forty-five the more she remembered. All the nightmares Loki had sent her. The night Steve comforted her. Clint telling her about being Loki's slave. Thor telling her of how innocent Loki once was. Steve carrying her to the kitchen, protecting her when Loki showed up, Loki taking her. The stupid little banter she'd shared with Loki when she first arrived in her cell. Loki healing her hands. The baseball. Loki attacking her. Slowly dying of frostbite. Loki healing her. Loki learning all her secrets while she learned some of his. The attack on D.C. Her dad beating Loki. Thor taking Loki away. The memories forced themselves on Gypsy and she wanted nothing more than for them to stop. They wouldn't though. No matter how much she begged them the memories wouldn't stop coming.

Why couldn't she get him out of her head? She wanted Loki out of her head. He was a villain. The man who kidnapped her. The man who kidnapped Pepper. The man who tried to rape her. The man who healed her wounds. The man who understood her, who knew all her secrets. The man who she understood and felt sorry for even if he had done a million terrible things. In his head it had all had a reason. It had all seemed right. He'd done so much and all for the approval of a man he who he would never admit he still considered a father. He'd done it to prove he wasn't a monster and yet he knew he was. He thought he was nothing more than a wretched creature with next to no heart and he tried to show everyone he was more than that. But his mind, his crazed heart broken mind, had made him do that in the worst possible ways. Gypsy knew there was no way anyone but her, Thor, and perhaps Frigga could ever see him as anything but a monster. He was a monster but he was also just a poor broken boy.

Gypsy hated him and yet she didn't and that just made her hate herself. Reliving these memories was making the constant guilt clawing at her stomach even worse.

Trying to hold back tears, Gypsy's eyes wandered to her closet where her dresser was still hidden away. Hidden deep inside her sock drawer was that stupid baseball Loki had given her. She'd begged Natasha for an hour to retrieve this small connection to Loki's relatively good side and finally the spy agreed to get it, realizing it must be really important to the girl. Gypsy had hugged Natasha when she brought back the baseball and the Russian had awkwardly returned it. Of course when Natasha had asked why the stupid ball meant so much to Gypsy the girl had said a very vague thing about having it in her cell before running off. Natasha would still ask about it every once in a while but Gypsy would always have the same vague answer and it infuriated the Russian to no end.

"Guns N' Roses!" Clint bellowed. Gypsy heard him running up the stairs and laughed when she heard him trip over the last step. He cursed for a few minutes, grumbling about his hurt face, before running the rest of the way to her room. He flung the door open and caught sight of her immediately. "Hey, Metallica. Downstairs. Now. Going to the movies." Clint told her.

Gypsy chuckled, crawling off her bed. "The Avengers in a movie theater? Is that really a good idea?" She asked. Clint raised a confused eyebrow at her which she shook her head at, smiling. He wasn't used to fame so he didn't exactly understand what she meant. "We'll get swarmed by fans. Just in case you haven't noticed, you guys are a big deal." Gypsy said, grinning at him.

Clint shrugged as if it didn't matter. "So we get swarmed, no biggie. Natasha can glare at them till they leave or your dad can pay them money to ignore us." He said. Gypsy laughed and made her way to her closet, deciding she should change into comfy movie clothes she wouldn't mind getting ruined if something happened. Knowing the Avengers, something _was_ going to happen. It always did. "We're seeing Despicable Me Two. It looks funny." Clint said as Gypsy picked out her favorite movie going clothes. A pair of comfy ripped jeans, a simple grey tee shirt, some slightly worn out sneakers, and a big comfy jacket for when the movie theater got freezing cold like it always seemed to.

"You picked it out didn't you?" Gypsy asked knowingly.

"No!" Clint said immediately. Gypsy looked back at him, giving him a "that was so obviously a lie and I don't believe it for one second" look. Clint put on a pouty look but the corners of his lips twitched up in a smile. "Your dad wanted to watch it too. It wasn't just me." He said defensively.

"Sure bird brain. Now get out so I can change." Gypsy told him. Clint stuck his tongue out at her childishly but quickly left, giving her the privacy she needed to change.

Gypsy came out of her room ten minutes later completely changed. She had her cell phone in her hand, a pocketknife tucked deep into her pocket, a box cutter in her jacket pocket, and another knife secured to her calf. An ear piece was just barely visible in her ear and a simple gold bracelet with tracking devices disguised as emeralds hung from her wrist. Natasha, spotting the girl first at the top of the stairs, nodded her approval. She couldn't see the weapons but being around them her whole life allowed her to easily sense when one was around. Gypsy gave her a smile then examined her family who were all waiting patiently for her at the door. They were all dressed in comfortable clothes though they still gave off their usual ready to fight at any moment vibe. Only Thor and Jane were missing and when Gypsy noticed this she felt a jolt of pain in her heart. She looked at the ground sadly, thinking Thor would have loved going to the movie theatre. Everyone knew immediately why she looked sad, they had all had roughly the same thought. Tony hated that look on his daughter's face and he was already determind to make her forget what today was so he put on a grin.

"You ready for the movies Gypsy?" Tony asked cheerfully. Gypsy looked up at her dad and smiled a little, slowly pulling herself out of her sad thoughts. "What type of candy do you want? I'm getting M&M's cause those are some of the best things ever." He told her.

Gypsy laughed a little. "M&M's sound good. Ever try them with popcorn?" She asked.

Tony nodded eagerly. "I've tried them with peanut butter too. Don't try all three together though, it's gross." He said cheerfully.

"How about cinnamon?" Gypsy asked. Tony shook his head and looked intrigued which made Gypsy grin wildly. "Well it doesn't really stick if you just pour cinnamon on them so you have to either do the cinnamon challenge mixed with M&M's or you can make a drink out of it. Melt the M&M's, put some cinnamon in, add a bit of milk if you want and you get the perfect drink." She said, remembering the lazy afternoon she had invented the delicious drink.

"Sounds delicious. We'll have those when we get back." Tony said, grinning. Gypsy's smile grew a bit more and everyone in the room smiled too, glad to see the girl happy after a whole day of quiet, depressed, so unlike her behavior. Tony's face turned deadly serious. "And we'll try the cinnamon challenge when we get back too." He said seriously.

"Oh no we won't." Pepper said, using a no nonsense tone, though she was grinning. She was almost a full four months pregnant and she had a noticeable baby bump. Everyone was being super careful around her stomach already, not wanting to accidentally hit it and damage the baby. Gypsy was counting down the days till Pepper was able to go and find out the baby's gender and was secretly hoping for a baby brother. Gypsy didn't get along with girls that well unless they were older than her so she hoped it was a little boy. She imagined his life would be awesome, being the baby in a gigantic family of superheroes. He'd be so cool. "Anyways, we should get going. We don't want to miss the movie." Pepper said cheerfully. She laced Tony's fingers with her own, shot Gypsy a smile, and dragged her fiancée out to the car.

Steve was by Gypsy's side in a second. He leaned down and placed a quick but passionate kiss on her lips that left her blushing like crazy and a little breathless. "Are you okay?" He asked her worriedly.

Gypsy chuckled and nodded though it was a lie. "Yes Steve, I'm okay. Why'd you wait to give me that kiss till my dad left?" She asked teasingly, making his face go red. They still hadn't told her dad about their relationship though they weren't exactly keeping it a secret. Everyone but Tony knew and they were just trying to figure out how to tell him. Steve wanted to tell Tony right away but Gypsy had been an emotional wreck when they got together so he had done as she asked and not said anything. He had still held onto Gypsy while on the Helicarrier but it was Tony's fault for assuming it was just because the Captain had missed Gypsy. How Tony could be so oblivious to Steve's obvious love for Gypsy was beyond everyone.

"That's not funny Gypsy." Steve said though he didn't sound mad. He was incapable of getting mad at Gypsy. "You know I would tell him but you keep insisting that I keep quiet. When do I get to stop feeling like a sneak?" He asked, sounding a little pitiful. Steve may not get along with Tony but he respected him and Steve's old fashioned morals made him hate keeping his relationship with Gypsy a secret. Steve felt it was only right for Tony to know about it.

"Sooner or later." Gypsy said vaguely. She placed a kiss on Steve's cheek before escaping out the front door, heading straight for the hippy van.

Bruce went over to Steve while the two assasins followed Gypsy out, snickering at Steve's misfortune. "Give her time Captain." Bruce said comfortingly, patting the soldier's arm. "She's just afraid of how her dad will react. After Clint's reaction and mine she'll not be very eager to tell Tony." He said.

Steve winced slightly at the memories. Natasha and Pepper had been fine with their relationship, had actually expected it to happen a little sooner than this, but the guys had not been as okay with it. Clint of course had gone into a huge older brother speech about how he'd shoot an arrow straight through Steve's eye if he ever hurt Gypsy and how if Steve tried anything on Gypsy she didn't want he'd torture the super soldier in all the ways S.H.I.E.L.D had ever taught him. Bruce had been much calmer but his tone had been low and threatening nonetheless as he talked about the soldier never being found if he ever hurt Gypsy. Of course the Hulk had had to make sure Steve knew that he was just as protective of Gypsy as Bruce and had come out slightly, telling Steve he would beat the "tiny man" to a bloody pulp if he messed up. Gypsy had laughed at all the threats but Steve had taken them very seriously. He was extremely careful with how he acted with Gypsy when one of the two men were around.

"Thanks Bruce." Steve mumbled awkwardly. Bruce smiled a bit before walking out the front door. Steve followed him out quickly, locking the door as he did. Tony wouldn't let them leave till he had Jarvis do a security scan of the house but once that was done they were on their way to the movies.

When they arrived at the movie theater Tony instantly went to the booth to buy their tickets. He wasn't wearing anything fancy and his sunglasses were on but the girl working there still recognized him. She started gushing about how he was so awesome and so hot until Pepper made a loud, dramatic, clearly fake shout of excitement and told Tony to feel his baby kicking (which of course it wasn't.) The girl at the booth had blushed furiously and given Tony the tickets as quickly as she could while Pepper gave her a sweet yet somehow threatening smile. The Avengers and Gypsy all snickered as they passed by the girl, each one glad they weren't on the receiving end of Pepper's aggressively kind smile.

Getting candy was a hassle too because after hearing the girl at the booth loudly chattering about Tony Stark everyone had started looking for the billionaire. When the guy at the counter let out a surprised shout everyone instantly turned to look. When they saw the whole freakin' Avengers team there they started swarming. Pepper was immediately placed in the center of a gigantic circle they formed so she wouldn't get accidentally elbowed. Tony acted like it was no big deal while he ordered everything they all wanted while the rest of them politely acknowledged the fans.

"I saw you on the news. You're Iron Man's daughter." One girl told Gypsy. Hearing that, about half the group of fans turned to Gypsy and started shouting out questions about life with the Avengers.

Gypsy blushed, embarrassed by the attention and hating it. She held up her hands, the only way she could think of to silence the crowd. "Uh hi. First off, if you could just let my step mom get through that would be great cause she's pregnant." Gypsy told the crowd. A pathway instantly opened up and Pepper escaped through it. Natasha followed her, shooting glares at any fan who tried to stop and ask her questions.

"You've got ten minutes guys." Tony told the group of people around his friends before following the two women into the theater.

"Curse you Stark!" Clint shouted after him though he was grinning.

The group of girls in front of Gypsy immediately started asking about the whole "step mom" comment when Tony was out of sight. Gypsy let out a loud obnoxious groan that instantly silenced them. "Finally! Silence! Thank Thor!" Gypsy said dramatically, making Clint who was answering questions of his own snort loudly. Gypsy grinned and focused on the girls. "My dad, Tony, is getting married to Pepper Potts soon. He is officially unavailable and you can tell whoever you want about that because we're making it common knowledge very soon." Hearing that a whole quarter of the group left, some weeping at the loss of such a gorgeous bachelor while others cursed the extremely lucky Pepper Potts. The remaining group started asking about life with the Avengers and Gypsy smiled, shooting the three men around her loving looks. They returned them with half distracted smiles. "It's awesome. Better than you can ever imagine." She told them.

"Were you with them when they fought that crazy guy in D.C?"

Gypsy winced and her smile instantly turned to a heart broken frown. Clint noticed it first, he was right beside her, so he wrapped his arm around her shoulders protectively. "Gypsy doesn't like talking about that. There were a lot of people hurt there and a lot of people died. You shouldn't want to hear about it so much and you shouldn't ask someone that so eagerly." Clint said, glaring at the girl who asked it. Gypsy leaned into Clint, feeling better since she had her big brother hawk looking out for her. She laughed when the girl's face turned bright red and she practically ran away.

"Are you two dating?" One girl asked, pointing back and forth between Clint and Gypsy.

They instantly jumped apart, shouting out in disgust as they made faces. Gypsy looked at the girl in horror. "You're kidding right? Hawkeye's pretty much my brother!" She said. Gypsy looked over at Clint and he looked over at her. They both turned away and pretended to gag, making Bruce and Steve and some of the group around them laugh.

The girl who asked them looked disappointed. "Well you have to be dating one of them." She said firmly, as if there was no way Gypsy could be doing anything else.

"Oh I have to be do I?" Gypsy asked, an eyebrow raised while she smirked the Stark smirk. Someone pointed it out and Gypsy laughed, glad that the smirk could easily be recognized as her dad's. Looking back, Gypsy found it almost funny how much she used to hate her dad.

"Yes! You know four hot guys that aren't your dad, you have to be dating one of them!" The girl said. Clint was trying so hard not to laugh and Bruce was smiling a little. Steve was blushing like crazy and shooting Gypsy looks that told her it would not be a good idea to tell a bunch of fans before they told her dad.

"Ooo I bet it's the doctor!" One girl shouted.

Gypsy gagged while Bruce looked somewhere between amused and disgusted. "Guys, he's basically my uncle. That's gross." Gypsy answered.

"Captain America then!" Another girl shouted out. She was wearing a really cool custom made shirt with a picture of the team on it, the word Avengerlicious written beneath it.

Gypsy snorted, putting on a perfect mask of amusement. "Don't you think I'm a little young for him?" She asked the crowd, knowing they'd all get the joke. They all started laughing though plenty of them looked upset by her "lack" of a superhero boyfriend.

Tony suddenly appeared in the theater doorway. "Hey! Ten minutes are up! Movie time!" He shouted. The four let out relieved sighs while the crowd groaned sadly. Tony chuckled and disappeared into the theater while the four apologized to the crowd.

Once the crowd had dispersed Steve went over to Gypsy. "You don't seriously think you're too young for me do you?" He asked worriedly.

Gypsy smiled at him flirtatiously and winked. "Well you do have a couple of years on me Cap." She said jokingly. Steve smiled a little but he still seemed worried so, after checking to make sure no fangirl was watching them, Gypsy placed a kiss on his lips. "Stop worrying. I kind of have a thing for older guys." She told him jokingly.

Steve shook his head though he grinned at her joke. Gypsy grinned, wondering how she ever ended up deserving this amazing guy. Clint watched the two, an overdramatic disgusted look on his face. "Hey, lovebirds, let's go. Tony'll notice if we take any longer." He said with a slightly angry tone, pulling the couple's attention away from each other. Steve blushed but Gypsy grinned, completely at ease before an angry Hawkeye. Of course, she wasn't the one Clint was directing his anger towards so that might have been why.

"Protective older brother." Gypsy teased, walking past Clint into the theater.

"Annoying little sister." Clint retorted, following her in.

The movie was fantastic. Funny as heck and even funnier with the Avengers making their own little side jokes while it played. Clint was being overdramatic to make Gypsy and Natasha smile so at random parts when there was no call for yelling he would get up and rant about how someone on the screen needed a slap to the face. Every time the minions did something funny Tony would very loudly declare he was going to make himself some minions and about halfway through the movie had already come up with a plan with Bruce on how they could create the little yellow pill shaped guys. Pepper and Natasha were quiet till the Russian made a comment about Pepper's hair being the same color as the lady on screen. Then they started dying of laughter. Steve, who still wasn't a fan of crude jokes, was actually laughing pretty loudly as he ate handfuls of jumbo popcorn. Gypsy was dying of laughter by the time it was over and everyone besides her family was looking at her like she was insane. They all grinned wildly, thinking their plan had worked beautifully.

"I want a lipstick taser." Natasha said when they were leaving the theater. "S.H.I.E.L.D has nothing like that and it would actually be useful since it would look so common place." She said.

"Is that your way of saying 'hey Tony make me a lipstick taser or you die?'" Tony asked jokingly. Natasha laughed a little, smiling, and nodded her head. Tony looked at her in a conspiring kind of way before turning to Bruce. "We should make one Brucey. It'd be fun. Besides, I've always wanted to make some spy gear." He said, grinning.

"I could make the spy car." Gypsy offered, smiling. Already, plans for the vehicle were in her head. "Get me some gadgets, I'll hook them up. Or I could make a few things myself. I've been reading up on your notes dad and in a few simple engineering books so I think I could manage a few things." She said, recalling half a million things she'd learned from her dad's notes alone.

By the time they reached the vehicles the three geniuses had come up with at least twenty different plans for spy gadgets they could make as side projects while they worked on creating minions. Natasha was getting a lipstick taser, Pepper was getting a freeze ray, Clint was getting x-ray glasses, Gypsy was getting a spy car, Bruce got permission to play around with salsa ingredients next time they had Mexican Food Night, Steve was getting nothing since he was such a technophobe, and Tony was going to get minions. It was going to be awesome. Gypsy grinned in anticipation as she planned out what type of model of car she was going to pick out for the spy car. Tony said she could get whatever kind she wanted, he'd be able to find it even if it was ancient. Gypsy was debating between James Bond car, forties car, and a simple black Mercedes as she climbed into the hippy van.

Natasha drove them home and while she did Gypsy got out her phone, planning to write down a few brief things about the spy car in her notes that she didn't want to forget. That was when she noticed the time. It was nearly five o'clock. She'd missed the one month mark and hadn't even noticed it. Gypsy looked around at her the other occupants of the hippy van in shock, they'd actually managed to make her forget.

How had they done it? No one had ever been able to make her forget her problems no matter how hard they tried. These people, her family, had managed it though. Gypsy was so shocked. Was this what family was like? Her mother had always been there for her, always helping her get past bad stuff, but she had been only one person. A family wasn't just two people it was a bunch of people. A bunch of people who looked out for you. Who cared for you. Who kept you going even when you thought you couldn't. Who picked you up when you fell down. Gypsy felt her eyes water up and she quickly turned away so none of them would see, wiping away the tears as she smiled.

These people were her family. The assassins were her brother and sister, always there for her no matter what and ready to force her out of her comfort zone. The doctor was her uncle, her protector when her dad wasn't there. Tony was her dad, Pepper her step mom. The Hulk was like a protective toddler brother, almost like a puppy but not quite. Steve was hers. Thor was her family too even if he wasn't there anymore. He was the older wiser brother. Gone but not forever.

Gypsy smiled and the others smiled when they noticed. It was good to see Gypsy happy. They loved her, they wanted to see her safe and sound and living life cheerfully. They would do whatever they could for her and protect her till their dying breathes. Gypsy was theirs and they were never going to let her go again.

**This is my wonderful little one shot that I thought I would write. I wrote it up last month, three days after I put up the last chapter of Gypsy, but I thought it would be more poetic if I put this up on the one month mark of the end of my first Gypsy story. I think I might be making another Gypsy story between now and whenever Thor 2 comes out on DVD (yeah, I decided I'm not writing the sequel till then so it'll be easier to write.) It'll just be her life between now and the events of the movie. Depending on the movie something big might happen between her and a certain someone else. Lol, anyways, I threw in a few hidden shoutouts to some reviewers of mine (one not so hidden.) If you think I might have given you a shout out but you're not sure feel free to private message me. Anyways, let me know if you want an in between Gypsy story. Cookies for all! (the cookies look like Cap's shield by the way, enjoy!)**


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